Russia sales fell 5% in October; Skoda make gains

Russia’s new-car sales fell 5.2 percent in October to 152,057, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said in a statement.
The October result keeps the market on the path of a “slow but continuous erosion of the much-needed volume gains secured in the years 2017-2018,” Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, said in the statement.

The AEB said last month it expected sales to fall 2.2 percent in 2019. The group had originally forecast demand to rise to 1.87 million this year from 1.80 million in 2018. The association also said that another rise in the country’s utilization fee could suppress demand in the market. The tax is designed to account for recycling charges at the end of a vehicle’s life.

Skoda gains 17 %

Among the sales winners in September were BMW, up 19 percent; Skoda, up 17 percent; Mercedes-Benz up 15 percent and Renault, up 12 percent.